Oakland Raiders vs. New England Patriots NFL Betting Odds & Spread

Written December 12, 2008 by Jason Lowry

Patriots Raiders Football

Now there is more to football than beating each other up every weekend, and Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel is feeling that more than ever right now after the recent loss of his father, but the quarterback is still expected to suit up this Sunday when the New England Patriots take on the Oakland Raiders. The Patriots were able to climb back in a tie for first after beating the Seahawks las week 24-21, while the Raiders got embarrassed by the Chargers last Thursday 34-7. For those of you looking to do a little NFL betting on the game this weekend, the oddsmakers have the Patriots 6.5 point favorites on the road over the Raiders at Bookmaker.com

Thanks to a Jets loss last week the Patriots are now in a 3-way tie for first place in the AFC East at 8-5, and the only thing this team can do is just keep on winning and hope the other two slip up in one of their final 3 games. Last week the Patriots needed a strong finish to pull off the come from behind victory, and Cassel was a big part of that throwing for 268 yards and a touchdown. The running game was spread out over a number of different players, but Sammy Morris did the most damage rushing for 36 yards and the Patriots only other touchdown. This week they face a Raiders team that doesn’t have much at all to play for, as their season has been over for quite some time now, so as long as Cassel can come out and play with the emotion of the loss of his father, the Patriots should be just fine in this one.

The Patriots defense maybe showed a little weakness in the secondary last week, as they allowed backup Seneca Wallace to throw for 212 yards and 3 scores on 20 of 28 passing. The Pats did force Wallace to put the ball on the ground, but other than a sack by Brandon Meriweather that was all the defense had in this one. Playing on the road again this week could spell trouble for this unit, as many teams from the east coast struggle to play strong over multiple weeks on the west coast. Now its a good thing they are playing the Raiders, as they don’t really pose much of a threat outside of the running game this season, and that has been hit or miss at best. Bet New England Patriots -6.5 at Bookmaker.com

Its hard telling what happened to that Raiders team that beat up on the Broncos 3 weeks ago on the road, but they have not been near as good the past two weeks, scoring just 20 points the last two games, and last week against the Broncos they scored just 7 thanks to the special teams play of Justin Miller who took a kickoff back 92 yards late in the 2nd quarter. The offense did lose starter JaMarcuss Russell last week, but he is expected to play this weekend, but the key will be the running game of Justin Fargas, as Darren McFadden continues to struggle with turf toe. Fargas had just 50 yards on 12 carries last week, as the Raiders had only 54 yards total on the ground.

Now even if the Raiders offense picks up some slack this week at home, the defense still has to play a lot better than it did last week. Now this defense has been giving opposing quarterback headaches over the past few weeks, but that wasn’t the case last week against Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who threw for 214 yards and 3 scores. With Cassel likely a little off in this one, it will be the run defense that has to bring their game if the Raiders even want to think upset at all in this one. Bet Oakland Raiders +6.5 at Bookmaker.com

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